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Absolute novice to EV’s, what are the main things I need to prepare for and need to know

2K views 25 replies 12 participants last post by  Brickstrident 
#1 ·
Evening everyone

I’m a pretty impulsive guy, I have an MG retailer down the road and popped in today and test drove the MG SV EV and I loved it. Traded in my my Mercedes A180 and take collection of my new car in 7 days.

The trouble with being impulsive is that you act first and think second, which is what my wife said when I returned home, fair do’s.

can I ask what are the most important things I need to prepare for and need to know about owning an electric vehicle?

I know I should have thought about these things before buying, but I’m 52 and if I haven’t found any sensibility so far it’s unlikely I’m going to.

thanks in advance.

Brian
 
#4 ·
Thanks for responding, I have a drive and a garage, my neighbour has a charge point right next to my garage so I can use that until I get my own.
The first thing I will be doing when I get to work on Monday is to instruct the facilities team to install a charging pod.
 
#3 ·
Also, what is your usage profile in terms of how many miles do you do in a typical day, and how often do you do more than say 120 miles in a day per year?
 
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#6 ·
Your big worries right now are planning for home charging, and being prepared for public chargers should you need to use them.

As mentioned in the post above mine, do you have somewhere you can easily plug in at home? If so you need to start looking into home charger suppliers and get one installed. Until then you need to decide if you can work with a 3-Pin cable or are going to be using the public charging stations.

For public charging, your best friend will be the Zap Map app on your phone. Take a look in your area, and the places you may travel to further afield. See what networks operate the chargers around the area, and sign up for memberships to the ones you are likely to find useful. Unfortunately not all chargers will just work with your credit card and require you to have a membership card, app or some other access method so it is best to be prepared.

(EDIT - I see more information and posts came in as I was typing this. Some of this post is now obsolete, but the public charging advice may still be of help)
 
#7 ·
‘thanks, i just downloaded the Zap Map you mentioned which definitely offers some reassurances, need to work out the payment side but I’m sure I will navigate this.

I have a 3 pin near my garage door which should help in the short term.

It’s the first time I have driven an EV, WOW! what a great drive much cleaner than my diesel, that goes without saying really.
 
#10 ·
Check out your electricity deal. We switched to Octopus Go - 4 hours overnight at 5p/ kW. That can cut your electricity bill by 2/3. Maybe save you £1500 over a year. Though it sounds like you might be getting it free at work!

Octopus needs a certain type of Smart meter, so best to get on that soon.

Can offer you my discount code for £50 credit to us both if you decide to switch.
 
#15 ·
Our starting point was our mileage pattern. We have weekly trips of 100 miles each way, and didn't want to charge en route due to time pressure. So a car comfortably over 200 miles range was a prerequisite for us. We have an off road parking space, so fitting a charging point was sensible. Next we decided how long before delivery. We couldn't wait a year, but 4 months was ok. One reason we chose kona over eniro because better colour choices.

This was our most expensive car purchase by a mile, but decided to go for it because this was possible and a way out of the fossil fuel quagmire.
 
#18 ·
You might find "abetterrouteplanner" a useful app. here:- A Better Routeplanner It allows you to enter weather conditions and many customisations
when planning a route and minimises journey time by optimum charge management.

Also I can recommend the Octopus Go tarriff. Feel free to use my sign up link if you decide it's for you.
 
#19 · (Edited)
Most important thing:-
Keep calm and carry on.

What you will need to learn to do:-
a) provide all the facts in your first posts, because we're going to ask for those anyway, and
b) make sure you are good at planning if you go beyond-range, charge as early as possible if that means you can get home on 'that' much charge, and if not and it'll be more than one charge then whichever charger you are heading towards then make sure you can get to the next charger too, and preferably a third, if there are outages or blockages, if not and it's "this charger or nothing" then you are chancing your arm.

In answer to your question what affects mileage, in pareto order:-
1) Your driving style; knock 20% off WLTP if you drive hard, but it can be mitigated to 0% or -ve% if you are really smooth and slow.
2) Speed; knock off 1%/mph off WLTP over 50mph
3) The Cold; knock off 1%/deg C below 10C (or 1% for each C below 15C if you like the heater warmish... and just don't even bother cranking it up high if range is a concern ...)
4) The wet; even if the roads are merely covered with condensate, knock of 10%

... and if you are now thinking that at 'fast' motorway speeds, in winter, on a wet road, this all adds up to your range being less than half WLTP then ... yep ... it probably will be.

(The above subject to the usual hand-waviness of pub-talk generalisations.)

HTH
 
#22 ·
Forget sticking the nozzle in your Diesel and getting a whiff of toxic fumes whilst you filled the car
Every time I drive past a fossil fuel station i look at all the mugs who haven't realized the future yet
Welcome to the EV club, good bye upper crust Clarkson!
Be careful of dealerships trying to protect there after sales margins as EV have low maintenance costs

I have never found one EV driver who would switch back to fossil power

One word of warning look out for joggers cyclists and pedestrians as they cant hear you coming .
 
#25 ·
Forget sticking the nozzle in your Diesel and getting a whiff of toxic fumes whilst you filled the car
Every time I drive past a fossil fuel station i look at all the mugs who haven't realized the future yet
Welcome to the EV club, good bye upper crust Clarkson!
Be careful of dealerships trying to protect there after sales margins as EV have low maintenance costs

I have never found one EV driver who would switch back to fossil power

One word of warning look out for joggers cyclists and pedestrians as they cant hear you coming .
Thanks DavEdi
The more I read from other users the more excited I am getting, picking the car up in a couple of days so can’t wait to say goodbye to the fossil fuels. Each time I sit and look at the benefits the more sense it makes.

we have a lot of cyclist on the back roads where I am so need to think about that, maybe stick a playing card in the spokes like I used to do on my bike 😆
 
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